Indelible
by Silent Scribe
Summary: Sesshomaru finds himself subject to impressions he can't shake. Or forgive. Quick Sesshomaru/Kagura oneshot.


**Indelible**

One such as I does not make a habit of intervening with the affairs of short-lives. It's tiresome and rarely do they learn their lesson long enough before they've expired; but tedium was not riding high on my mind when I issued my order to the carriage-cradled popinjay before me. I made it simple so he, or even one of the foot soldiers who bore him up, could understand.

"Let it go."

"How's that?" The young daimyo's lip curled into a sneer. In these days his kind were becoming as numerous as the flies on horses. Upper-crust humans who had nothing better to do than frivol their time and wealth away on trivialities: turf wars, expensive opium, cheap women, and caged beasts.

Behind its ironed bars, a swan trumpeted loudly. The murky scents of pond water still clung to it – it had just been caught this morning. Honking cries for freedom and its home were fired in rapid succession. The flurry of feathers made it appear as if the cage held a small, feathered blizzard rather than a good-sized bird. Throwing its weight around in that portable prison, the swan was giving its two human guards a struggle.

I returned my gaze to the mortal worm in all his silks that was seated in the carriage. Jaken kept me from repeating myself.

"Are all men so deaf? You heard, milord! Release that water fowl!"

Though his eyes never left me, I sincerely hoped the silkworm was laughing at my vassal. For his longevity I extended my wishes.

He had no such sense of self-preservation. "I won't have my afternoon's sport spoiled by an overdressed demon's whims. Now, mongrel, _move_."

"So be it." Because I agreed with him, I moved. I raised my arm, I flexed a ribbon of power, and I swept that energy through the lot. The little silkworm saw it all – he was the last to die.

Never should it be construed that this Sesshomaru is moved for anyone.

.

The stars were a sparkling welcome after a week in dark, manacled confinement. Kagura sucked in the cool night air, increasingly aware that her life could now be counted in breaths.

Exhaling, her ruby eyes flashed open with startling determination. She was going to try and solicit Sesshomaru's aid once more; only this time he wouldn't refuse her.

_It won't be a repeat of last time. _

No doubt flickered within the wind witch. She'd played the scenario over and over in her mind while sitting in Naraku's dungeon.

Not that Sesshomaru would have known that; he wouldn't have cared either. But it didn't matter. The plume Kagura rode was set on its chosen wind current. Tonight would be different. She had a real plan now.

Two jade beaded earrings, a pair of snow-white downy feathers, a crimson bordered fan, and the kimono she was wearing. This was all Kagura could claim in the world. Not even her own heart was hers. In essence, her life would be written on the wind.

_It's time to change that._

"Kagura." Sesshomaru modulated his voice enough so her named passed for a greeting. He shifted his stance just enough to give her a perfect profile. The starlight illuminated the bluish tint to his long sliver hair. It probably felt like silk and was twice as soft.

Kagura grimaced. She had come here on business and the daiyokai cover boy wasn't making this any easier. "Sesshomaru," she said in a voice barely above a whisper. "You have a long memory, don't you?"

The question caught him off guard, but all the same he shrugged in that infuriating way that meant everything and nothing at all.

Kagura could only tap her closed fan to her forehead, too tired to be angry. "And you don't forget easily either, eh?"

"In some respects, mortals are blessed." He turned back in Kagura's general direction, without looking right at her. "One could say that that would be to forgive."

That was all she needed. "Then, I only ask you to remain merciless."

Suddenly, faster than Sesshomaru could blink, Kagura had closed the distance between them. Her soft, painted lips pressed firmly and insistently against his half-agape mouth.

In all his centuries none had so dared…

Sesshomaru's claws spasmed, but in the next gust he was completely alone and in the following backwash of wind Kagura had disappeared in the night sky.

Much to the dog-demon's chagrin, the invasive breeze still tugged at tendrils of his silvery mane.

.

There is a reason Tetsusaiga was forged with Father's fang and not simply crafted of pure steel. Iron, in yokai hands at least, is a surprisingly brittle substance. The lock to the swan's cage needed only one tug to be sure.

The swan hesitated, curled in its corner for longer than necessary. It's not the first time I've seen a captive bird fear the world beyond the cage. Presently, it waddled out, hissing enough that Jaken scampered behind me.

Finally, after what must have been hours, the swan stretched its wings. Its majestic fathom at least the height of a man.

Man.

I shall find myself quite capable to forgive those mortals. Other than perhaps a day's indignity and fleeting trauma, the swan is unharmed; acceptable. As for this feathered animal, I will harbor some small grudge for its causing me a moment's dalliance. With such haughty air of a creature that takes so gracefully to the wind's back, therein lies some inability to forgive.

The swan, you see…

The swan is a beautiful bird.


End file.
